


Rivers and Roads

by little_alien_duck



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: College AU, Modern AU, very little plot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:40:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27553999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/little_alien_duck/pseuds/little_alien_duck
Summary: Kathryn Janeway is twenty one years old and fully confident she can take on the entire world. Senior year of college doesn't stand a chance.
Relationships: Chakotay/Kathryn Janeway, Tom Paris/B'Elanna Torres
Comments: 17
Kudos: 29





	1. the last week of summer

**Author's Note:**

> I am a college senior currently attending zoom university so this is entirely me living vicariously through these characters. Also I am American and I'm sure that will be obvious from the way that I construct this fictional college. My apologies.

The room the university stuffed the school newspaper into was not air conditioned. It had probably been an attic at some point. The musty smell that never quite went away no matter how much coffee they layered on top pointed to that possibility. On an afternoon in the last week of August it was hot even with the windows Kathryn opened and the fans she sent spinning. 

This year the crappy, overheated attic was  _ her  _ crappy, overheated attic. She was a senior, and more than that, she was the chief editor of Archer University’s  _ Voyager  _ paper. She would host an event in a week or so for anyone interested in contributing. Just as soon as Neelix got back to campus and she could cajole him into baking cookies. He was a junior who had transferred to the culinary school the year before. His cooking was great when he actually followed the recipe. His experiments were a little more hit or miss. But Kathryn was pretty sure she could trust him with cookies. 

With an exhausted, sweaty sigh Kathryn plopped onto the lumpy couch that had long been relegated to wherever broke college students would take it. Before she had even unpacked her dorm she’d spent the afternoon lugging books and binders up to the paper room. There would be time to worry about her sheets and the pots and pans still sitting in boxes on her floor later. She had a week before anyone who wasn’t an RA moved in, and the diner three blocks away was both good and cheap. 

Kathryn pillowed her hands behind her head and propped her feet over the arm of the couch. With her eyes closed to the late afternoon sun, the only sounds were the soft rustling of leaves out the window and shouts from the lawn. There weren’t many people on campus yet, but the ones who were there were making themselves known. 

The door creaked. Kathryn did not want to deal with whoever had wandered in by mistake.

“Taking a nap already?” 

Kathryn’s eyes flew open. She knew that voice. Trying to jump to her feet from fully lying down only caused her to tumble back onto the couch, but that didn’t matter because her best friend who she hadn’t seen in months was on campus three days early. 

“Chakotay!”

“I didn’t realize seeing me was that exciting.” Chakotay gave her that damn dimpled smile as he hauled her to her feet. 

Kathryn gave him a hug and the friendly type of punch two people who get far too invested in stupid, physical competitions often share. 

“Don’t start telling everyone I’m a sap,” Kathryn warned, an eyebrow raised. 

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Chakotay crossed his heart and stole the seat Kathryn had just vacated on the couch. “So I’m guessing my surprise worked?”

“Was my reaction not enough?” Kathryn hopped up to sit on the wobbly table that spanned the center of the room both because she liked to swing her feet and to get a better look at her friend. The instagram pictures from protests and camping trips weren’t the same. He had spent most of the summer working as a camp counselor, and he looked like it. There was a warm kind of contentment that followed him around after he’d spent time working outside with kids. In his worn out university boxing shirt, he might be the happiest anthropology major in the universe. 

“I like to get confirmation.” 

Kathryn stuck her tongue out at him. He took that as the answer that it was and started laughing. 

“So how did you get back early anyway? Campus doesn’t open for another week.” 

“Ah but you see.” He held up a finger like he was about to deliver a lecture. “Those of us who don’t punish ourselves by becoming RAs and can live off campus like normal seniors, can move into our apartments anytime we want.”

“Being an RA is not punishing myself, it’s a chance to help underclassmen. It’s a way to make sure they feel welcomed to the community and it gives me a chance to get more leadership experience. It’s a win-win.” 

This was the real Kathryn Janeway experience, passionately lecturing about something ultimately innocuous with a manic look in her eye and half her hair falling out of her bun. 

“You just like hoarding responsibilities.” 

“Okay Mr. Captain of the Boxing Team.”

They’d been at it like this since freshman year. The school required everyone to take a rhetoric course they all hated. The two of them had become friends after being assigned opposite sides of a debate. When they realized they enjoyed debating with each other more than they liked chatting with anyone on their own side, they started doing outside of class, in the cafeteria and over textbooks in the library. By winter break they were best friends. The spring of freshman year, she’d convinced him to come with her to newspaper meetings, and by that same time sophomore year he was regularly writing articles about politics.

“So I’m guessing you haven’t eaten enough today?” Chakotay asked. The look that crossed Kathryn’s face and the offended way she opened her mouth prompted him to answer his own question. “No, drinking coffee does not count.” 

Kathryn crossed her arms. “I will ignore that  _ highly  _ incorrect statement only if your next question is if I want to go to the Delta with you.”

The Delta Diner made most of its money off of hungover and/or stressed out college students in need of a hot, greasy meal. In keeping with school tradition, Kathryn and Chakotay had eaten innumerable plates of hashbrowns there.

“You read my mind.”

“Excellent. I need to stop by my dorm to grab my wallet, and then we can go.” Kathryn hopped off the table with the spring of a pole vaulter and looked around the room. It wouldn’t be until there were projectings filling the corkboard on the wall and papers scattered around the table that it would look just right, but it was getting there. Kathryn couldn’t wait. 

…

As they walked, Kathryn pestered Chakotay for stories about the summer. Hers had been spent interning in a lab and while she found the science fascinating, she didn’t have any fun stories about water balloon fights or backpacking trips. They’d texted of course and talked on the phone when he had enough service to speak without breaking up. But that wasn’t the same. 

It was edging toward evening. The heat of the day slowly slipped off as the sun sunk behind buildings. Their laughter echoed down the street.

Over breakfast food and a shared milkshake, Chakotay listened to a monologue he didn’t really understand about Kathryn’s lab work. It had been years since he had actually taken a science course, though hanging out with Kathryn often enough was like auditing one. And when she and B’Elanna got together, good luck to anyone trying to follow along. B’Elanna was a sophomore engineering student and long time honorary younger sister in Chakotay’s eyes. The year before, she and Kathryn discovered they got along like a house on fire after Chakotay made a joke mocking STEM people when they were both around. The two of them were smart enough to leave anyone in the dust when they started talking about things like the mechanics of space travel.

By the time they left the Delta, the sky was a shade of lavender that only happens when the sun stays up too late in the summer. 

“Promise you won’t fall asleep this time?” Kathryn held her pinky finger out to Chakotay. 

“ _ The Godfather  _ is a good movie, I’m sure I’ll stay awake. And I still can’t believe you’ve never seen it.”

“One: we’ve talked about watching it together since freshman year. And two: you say that literally every time we watch anything. If you are going to make me watch a three hour movie, I want a binding agreement, Chakotay.” She wiggled her pinky finger at him again. 

“I pinky promise I will not fall asleep.” 

…

Chakotay fell asleep almost immediately. The two of them were sprawled across the couch in the apartment he had just moved into with Mike, a friend from the boxing team. Chakotay hadn’t made much more progress unpacking than she had. Boxes littered most of the floor. Atop one of them sat Chakotay’s laptop, which was how they- well Kathryn- was watching the movie.

She had known Chakotay was going to fall asleep, just like he’d known that all she’d eaten before he came barging into the paper room was a cup of black coffee. She would wake him up when the movie finally ended and it was time for her to go home. Mostly likely by tickling him. 

She knew that this was just the beginning of the semester. Technically, it was  _ before  _ the beginning of the semester. The days would get shorter and the assignments would bury her alive in the library. 

But it was going to be a good year. Kathryn knew it.

  
  



	2. the first week of september

“Since I’m sure you’ve all got more interesting things to do this evening than listen to your RA talk, we’ll wrap up here for today. If you’ve got any questions just send me an email or a text. And if you’re interested in contributing to the newspaper, I’m on my way to the first meeting now, so you can follow me.” 

Kathryn was pretty sure she knew which ones it would be. There were two in the group she had pegged as the kind of over achievers that would be interested in writing for  _ Voyager _ . 

She checked her watch.  _ Voyager _ ’s first meeting was supposed to begin in five minutes, and she was currently a ten minute walk away. Tuvok, the first year grad student who had run the paper last year, was covering for her until she could get there, but she knew she would get a raised eyebrow as soon as she walked through the door.

“Um hi, you said we should follow you for the newspaper meeting?” A nervous sounding voice in front of her confirmed at least one of her assumptions. Kathryn looked up from her watch to see an anxious looking freshman fiddling with the ID badge that dangled from his neck.

“Harry, right?” He nodded and grinned in a relieved way. “We’ll wait just a minute more for anyone else that wants to come along.”

Kathryn was keeping an eye on the other one who had perked up a bit when she mentioned the paper. She was a short, blond girl with a name Kathryn couldn’t quite remember. The girl was talking to her roommate, another blond girl, though much taller and with a stern expression so fixed it looked almost painful. 

“So you said you study physics?” Harry rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet, looking around the room. 

“Astrophysics to be specific. What about you? Not that you have to know yet.” Kathryn remembered being a freshman and having everyone in the universe want to know what her plans for the rest of her life were. 

“Engineering,” Harry answered firmly. His face lit up just saying it. He was one of the lucky ones who knew what he wanted to do and seemed excited about it. 

“You know, there’s another engineer who writes science articles for the paper sometimes. I’ll introduce you to her at the meeting.”

“The newspaper meeting?” It was the blond girl. She had a bright smile and a disinterested looking roommate trailing behind her.

“Yes, and as it looks like no one else is coming we’ll head out.” Kathryn glanced at her watch again as she spoke. One minute until the meeting was scheduled to start. Tuvok was not going to let her live his down. 

…

“I’m so sorry to ask, but what’s your name again?” Kathryn asked as they walked across the lawn.

“That’s alright, I’m Kes, and this is my roommate-”

“Seven.” 

“Seven? Is that a nickname?”

“It is what I go by.” Seven did not leave any room for argument in her voice, and Kathryn didn’t feel the need to push it. 

“Alright then, Seven.” Seven gave Kathryn the hint of a smile. If Kathryn had to guess, she would say that Seven probably wished she was somewhere else at the moment, but Kes hadn’t lost her smile since they’d started walking. Kathryn wondered if  _ Voyager  _ could handle another odd couple dynamic.

…

“Cutting it a bit close, Kathryn,” Tuvok murmured in her ear as she sat down next to him. She shot him a “tell me off later look,” before turning to address the group. Harry, Kes, and Seven were the only faces she didn’t recognize from last year. On the side of the table to Kathryn’s right sat Chakotay. Next to him B’Elanna was having a spirited conversation about something with Tom. He was a sophomore history student Kathryn had known for years. Their dads had gone to college together so they had grown up seeing each other a couple times a year. Kathryn thought of Tom like a younger cousin. 

Kathryn noticed two things of interest about their conversation. The first was that Tom was eating one of Neelix’s cookies, which appeared to be  _ green _ . The second was that he and B’Elanna were sitting  _ very  _ close together. She would have to interrogate him about that later.

Across from Kathryn and Tuvok were the three newbies. Kes munched on a cookie while Harry looked like he was internally debating whether or not green cookies were actually edible. On the side of the table to Kathryn’s left sat Neelix and the Doctor. He wasn’t actually a doctor yet. He was a pre-med sophomore named Lewis Zimmerman. They all just called him the Doctor because he was incapable of talking about anything other than medicine or opera.

Kathryn took a deep breath and smiled. This was where three years of hard, sometimes exhausting work had led. She had to take a moment to admire the view. 

“Hi everyone, as I think you all know, I’m Kathryn, and this year I’ll be the senior editor of  _ Voyager _ .” 

Kathryn wasn’t expecting the cheer Chakotay started to spread around the room. Tom wolf whistled so loud she was sure people heard it on the lawn. She wished she was better at keeping the blush from creeping across her cheeks. 

“Thank you, thank you.” She gave the best half bow she could from a chair. “Now, let’s get to the important stuff.”

She told them about when issues would be printed (once a week) and when deadlines were (ideally before the last minute). The information part lasted about about ten minutes. Then there was a bit of time for questions, mostly from Harry, who was enthusiastic, and the Doc, who needed clarification about the number of articles a single person could submit.

“Before we go, I have an idea if that’s alright, Kathryn,” Neelix spoke up before Kathryn could end the meeting. “I think we should do something maybe once a month that goes with the theme of the month, like an event that we can write a piece about.”

“That sounds like a great idea, Neelix. Does anyone have ideas about what those events could be?” 

“I actually have an idea for the first one. I was thinking we could do a scavenger hunt across campus. It would be fun and a good way for new students to learn their way around. Like  _ National Treasure _ except it’s just for our campus.”

“That was the movie B’Elanna and I saw on our first date.” 

Every head in the room turned toward Tom. The soundless void of outer space couldn’t have been more quiet. Even the freshman who didn’t know the two of them were watching with interest. 

“Oops.” At least he had the decency to blush. 

“Tom, I thought we weren’t telling people that yet.” 

“I’m sorry, B’Elanna. I’m just excited that you agreed to go out with me.” 

That got her to smile, albeit with a level of exasperation Kathryn assumed was a prerequisite for putting up with Tom. When it appeared that they weren’t going to argue, Chakotay asked the question they were all thinking. 

“You saw  _ National Treasure  _ for your first date?” 

“That’s what was showing at the drive in! And that was a date venue I was pretty proud of, thank you.” 

“As fascinating as this conversation is,” Tuvok said before anyone else could derail them further, “I believe we were talking about Neelix’s suggestion.” 

“Well, I think it’s a great idea, so unless anyone has any objections, I think we’ve got a scavenger hunt to plan,” Kathryn said.

…

The meeting didn’t last much longer. Even in the first week of classes everyone had a million places to be. Kathryn was glad to note that she saw Harry talking to Tom and B’Elanna on one side of the room and Kes, Seven, and the Doctor having a conversation on the other. Kathryn watched as Tom whispered something in Harry’s ear which caused him to blush and stuff his ID badge in his pocket. Apparently Tom was imparting age old wisdom. The quickest way to spot a freshman is to find anyone actually wearing their ID badge. 

“So you made it through your first meeting, Chief Editor,” Chakotay said, bringing Kathryn back from observing.

“And only a few minutes late,” she laughed, then becoming more serious added, “I think we’ve got a good team this year.” 

From the other side of the room there was a shout as Tom succeeded in throwing a cookie in the air and catching it in his mouth.

Chakotay chuckled. “Yeah, I think we do.” 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A couple of notes about this chapter:
> 
> 1\. I have arbitrarily decided that Seven and Kes would be best friends. I am 1000% confident on this one.  
> 2\. The green cookies are something my grandfather actually makes. They're just chocolate chip cookies with mint in them, and they're one of the best desserts ever made.
> 
> Thank you for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! As the story progresses more of the characters will be introduced so if you're here for any of them, please stick around for the next chapter!


End file.
